GOP Senate candidate Rick Scott earned millions from offshore funds

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is now running for the Senate, earned at least $2.9 million in 2017 from two dozen hedge funds registered in the Cayman Islands.

Scott and his wife, Anna, have investments overseas via the hedge fund that are worth a minimum of $25 million and as much as $62 million, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The funds, which were discovered when Scott filed a financial disclosure as a Senate candidate, are the latest in a long line of controversial disclosures about Scott’s finances over the years.

American and foreign investors often use the Caribbean islands as a tax haven. Scott’s campaign alleges that the offshore investments in the Cayman Islands were not selected by Scott, but through a blind trust run by an independent investment professional.

But in the past, questions have been raised as to how independent Scott’s blind trust truly is.

The Miami Herald reported that “we don’t know” how blind Scott’s trusts are because he and his family “bought and sold assets that mirror those held by Scott’s blind trust and had them managed by the same team” who made his investments before he became governor.

Scott’s campaign also claimed that one of the funds he is invested in, Overlook 3G Investments, is located in Hong Kong. But as the Tampa Bay Times notes, the company’s website actually describes the fund as a Cayman Islands partnership formed to invest in a Chinese utility.

The offshore investments are the latest in an extremely long line of shady financial dealings that Scott has been involved in for years, resulting in massive increases in wealth for him and his wife.

Before becoming governor, Scott made millions as chief executive of Columbia HCA, which defrauded Medicare and Medicare during his tenure. He was forced out, and the company paid what was then the largest health care fraud settlement in American history.

Scott and his wife also invested in a credit fund for All Aboard Florida, which operates a commercial rail line business and is interested in running high-speed rail between Tampa and or Orlando.

In 2011, Scott rejected $2.4 billion for a similarly designed rail project — but now, after his investment, Scott backs the high-speed rail.

After telling Florida companies not to invest in Venezuela, criticizing Nicolas Maduro’s regime as “brutal and oppressive,” Scott was revealed to have investments in three firms that had done business with Venezuela.

As he runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he would be tasked with oversight of Trump and his many unethical dealings, Scott’s own dubious financial habits may come back to haunt him.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.